India will face Zimbabwe tomorrow at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Ahmedabad. The match is scheduled to start at 7:00 pm Indian time. It is a must-win situation for both sides to keep their semi-final hopes alive after losing their opening Super 8 games against South Africa and West Indies respectively.
Ahead of the game, Zimbabwe all-rounder Ryan Burl has shared some important updates on the team’s preparation against India, and he also spoke about India’s struggle against spin and the pace of the balls.
Zimbabwe has some good spinners – Ryan Burl
Teams plan not to pace India’s batsmen, as they have struggled especially against off-spin in this World Cup. This is a matter of notice for Chevron, who have a spinner like Sikandar Raza.
Ryan Burl said, “Thank you for saying that Zimbabwe have some good spinners. That’s a nice compliment. Yes, we have done our homework. I won’t give away too many secrets but yes, we have studied how the Indian batsmen have performed against the spinners.”
Brull further said, “We would be foolish to ignore it (India vs spin). We have done our homework, but the matchup also has to be kept in mind. Bowling first helps. Nobody wants to bowl with a slippery ball. We are aware of the dew factor.”
We are aware of the dew factor- Ryan Burl
Ryan Burl was asked about the dew factor in Chennai, as the toss will be an important factor as teams prefer to bowl first on a pitch that has helped spinners over the years, especially in the first innings.
“We have played a lot of night games. We played in Pakistan where dew was a big factor. That’s something we are prepared for. You have to execute on the day. Bowling first helps. Nobody wants to bowl to a slippery ball. We are aware of the dew factor,” Burl said.
India’s struggle against the slow ball continues
India have been struggling against slow balls and spin since the beginning of the tournament. They have faced defeat in every game; Despite recovering from the other games, they failed to do so against South Africa last Sunday and were bowled out for 111 while chasing 188. More than 50% of the slow balls bowled by the Protea pacers were slow.
According to the statistics, in the South Africa game, India’s batsmen’s strike rate reached 135 with 5.3 boundaries per ball, and in terms of ball speed, they scored 167 runs with 4.2 boundaries per ball. His off-spin problem was first exploited in the game against Pakistan, when he lost Abhishek Sharma early on for duck.
Spin to Win motto for Zimbabwe against India
The No. 1 T20I batsman also returned for a duck, bowled by Aryan Dutt, who is also an off-spinner, in the final group stage. Next was Ishan Kishan, who became the victim of Aiden Markram in the very first over. This highlights India’s problems against off-spin.
Sikandar Raza is in Zimbabwe’s team and being the captain, he would like to take advantage of this problem of India in the beginning and can bowl the first over with the new ball.
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